Page 62 of Love & Monsters
That’s what my victory gave me. While my surviving warriors’ cheers and saluted me on my path, it was the image of Ryken dying within my vision. I was the monster Mina feared me to be after what I’ve done. A secret thought in the back of my mind whispered that I did not deserve her warmth or her smiles.
At the entrance to the healer’s tent, I stomped those thoughts away. Anakis would have found a messenger by now. Before I could stop them, someone would go to the fortress to fetch her. Though my exhausted thoughts were overly negative, I tried to think of the joyous moment when we’d reunite.
Back in the mansion in the heart of Nadirn, someone would bring Mina to me on my throne. I only had a few weeks to dispel the corruption Ryken spread in the city before she arrived.
That thought was enough to refresh my energy, long enough for me to speak with Knox. His injuries were mild, and the healers assured me he would survive. After sharing words with the healer, I found him in the back of the tent, bundled with red-stained bandages, breathing shallow, but awake.
“It is done?” He croaked out, attempting to sit up in his cot. Sitting on the wooden stool next to the cot, I easily pushed Knox back down with one hand. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to rise again after a wave of fatigue hit me.
“It is,” I answered. Silence settled over our heads as we contemplated what that meant. Knox broke the quiet first after several moments, listening to the bustling army outside and the chattering healers.
“Ilya—” he started. Her name was only a whisper past his dry lips. Reverent and soft, as though her name was prayer.
“I have sent for them, my friend.” I leaned back on the stool, crossing my arms over my chest. My eyes were too heavy to keep open any longer. Despite the visions of blood that I saw when they were closed.
“I cannot wait to see her again. To see my child.” Wet coughing interrupted him, wracking his body, and shaking the cot.
“I know. We will see them soon. Only a few more weeks. As soon as we can move you, we ride for the city.” I fell unconscious, my head drooping before we could say anything else.
∞∞∞
I slept for two days. When I woke, Knox’s wound had stopped bleeding and the messenger to the fortress was well on his way. The Bone Valley became a graveyard, and we planned for all soldiers and warriors to return home.
It was another week of marching before we returned to the city. Ryken made a mess of things before he left. The guards he left slacked off and scavengers were running wild through the streets. Citizens were crying out for help the moment our procession crested the horizon.
My first week back, I eradicated the traitors who aided Ryken in stealing my rightful throne. It only took a few bloody days of fighting in the streets to sever their heads from their bodies. By the end of the first week, I was in the mansion and sitting on my throne.
Days and nights ran together. Images of my dying brother or Mina’s sad smile plagued my dreams. There could be no rest without her in my arms. My aspiration to have her safely in the city at my side was a driving force to keep me going day in and day out.
Nefellim worked together once the scavengers and traitors dispersed or died. Every able body in the city spent every waking moment of the day to clean the city and erect order where Ryken left chaos. Long hours went into cleansing the heart of Nadirn, and my subjects made me proud to be their Lord.
At the end of the second week, I was on my throne, listening to the complaints and pleas of my citizens. It was difficult to sit still after months on the move, battle after battle. The thought of keeping Mina safe spurred me on. The walls blended together in the Throne Hall, and everyone wanted the same thing.
When guards spotted refugees coming back into the city, focusing became increasingly difficult. A few of them I knew for a fact came from the hidden fortress. Yet each day, none of them were Mina or Ilya.
Knox was healing still, but increasingly restless. I felt the same when the third passed. Refugees came and yet no one had a word of Ilya or Mina.
“Scavengers stole my crops, Lord Ascian. I’ve no food to feed my family now that we’ve used up our stores.” A farmer was making his case before me. My claws tapped anxiously at the end of the throne’s armrest as he spoke.
“Give this man enough food for his family and the means to rebuild his crops immediately,” I ordered. Much the same as all the others.
As someone escorted him out, I rubbed a hand over my forehead. I was bristling with nerves. My worry was increasing every day that something had happened and—
“My Lord!” A guard burst through the tall, black doors to the throne room. My head whipped up and narrowed on him. Every muscle in my body tensed, ready for a fight if the need arose.
“Is something the matter?” My heart skipped a beat to see the wide, unbridled excitement in his eyes.
“The Lady of Nadirn has arrived!” His words sent my heart swelling until I remembered they had referred to Ilya to as the Lady before we parted for war. Although I was still excited to see my sister, she wasn’t the Lady I yearned to reunite with after months of war.
I heard multiple voices on the other side of the doors. The boisterous chatter was loud. My legs moved before I knew it, and I was suddenly standing. Walking down the dais where my throne rested, my eyes locked on the doors. They swung open, and animated voices all ceased at the same instant.
Knox burst through the door. Even though his arm remained injured, the sight of an infant in his good arm took me aback. Ilya swept in after him, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.
“Brother,” she nodded at me, “we’re home.”
“Ilya! Is that my nephew?” I met them halfway through the hall, adoration filling me for the baby and my sister, safe and healthy, and home.
“Yes.” She chuckled, reaching out to place her hand on my arm. “But we’re not the only ones returned home. It’s been some time since you’ve seen your Lady. I expect you’re dying to know if she’s well.”
